<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Challenge Accepted by jackwabbit</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26870041">Challenge Accepted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackwabbit/pseuds/jackwabbit'>jackwabbit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Discovery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, But I'm Paranoid, But Probably Not?, Culmets - Freeform, Established Relationship, Hugh Gets His Revenge, M/M, Might Be a Very Light M Rating?, Paul Stamets Is A Damn Genius, Romance, just FYI, or does he?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:09:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>300</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26870041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackwabbit/pseuds/jackwabbit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Triple Drabble. Culmets.<br/><span class="u">Season</span>: One. Set sometime after “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” and before “Choose Your Pain.”<br/><span class="u">Spoilers</span>: “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” and “Choose Your Pain”.<br/><span class="u">Summary</span>: Paul had thrown down his gauntlet. In public, no less. Hugh was damn sure going to pick it up. But at least he had the decency to do so in private. (AKA, My take on the frontal lobe, Culmets style.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Challenge Accepted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was dark when Paul entered his quarters.</p><p><em>Odd</em>, he thought. Hugh had gotten off shift hours ago, and his workouts never took this long.</p><p>“Lights,” he called out.</p><p>“Cancel that,” came Hugh’s voice, from somewhere in the living room.</p><p>“Hugh?”</p><p>Rustling movement was the only answer. Then Hugh’s form emerged from the darkness and Paul swallowed thickly.</p><p>“Everything okay?” he asked, concerned about Hugh’s purposeful stride toward him.</p><p>Hugh pinned Paul with a dark look.</p><p>Paul backed up until he bumped into a wall. Hugh kept coming until his face was in Paul’s.</p><p>“Completely unnecessary?” growled Hugh, throwing Paul’s words back at him.</p><p>Paul’s concern evaporated. He smirked and offered Hugh the tiniest shrug.</p><p>“You know how I get.”</p><p>“Yeah,” said Hugh. “And you know what it does to me when you talk that way.”</p><p>Paul raised his eyebrows.</p><p>“Feeling challenged, dear doctor?”</p><p>Hugh’s gaze turned even darker.</p><p>“You could say that.”</p><p>Paul met Hugh’s look with an overly calm one of his own.</p><p>“Aw, trying to make me all emotional?”</p><p>His voice was patronizing, and a low rumble in Hugh’s throat was the only answer.</p><p>Paul’s smirk was back. But only for a moment. Because next thing he knew, Hugh was kissing him - hard.</p><p>The back of Paul’s head smacked into the wall.</p><p>“Ow,” he muttered, still managing to bite Hugh’s lower lip lightly while returning the kiss.</p><p>Hugh pulled away from him and scoffed.</p><p>“Oh, please,” he said, all sarcasm with no sympathy. “After that stunt? You’ll be lucky if I don’t break you.”</p><p>Paul’s expression turned positively  wicked. </p><p>“I’d like to see you try.”</p><p>Hugh needed no further encouragement. He dragged Paul to the bedroom and proceeded to prove to him (again) why even stubborn astromycologists needed a functional frontal lobe. </p><p>He also broke him. Twice. </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>